This topic is to recognize competitions that do something extra in the spirit of danceSPORT or Dance (with a big D) that you think should be recognized so that maybe other competitions would maybe emulate them. I'm going to make this sticky so that its always at the top of the heap - because thats where it belongs

For this topic please type the name of the competition in glowing letters and make it move accross the page (if you have not done this before you hvae to 'reply' to the topic , write the name, select it and then click the glow and after tha the moving arrow above.)

Please stay with the 'exceptional' aspect - this topic is NOT just to advertise your favorite - there has to be a real reason.

THE BLUE SILVERSo this is the comp that inspired the topic: Club Blue Silver is a dance club in Toronto and they host the Blue Silver trophy ball once a year (it was this last saturday).

The reason they get ***s is that after the comp they held a reception for all the judges, workers AND all the competitors. There was cold and hot food, juice coffee, cookies cakes and fancy desserts. In all it was a terrific spread and the organizers were there and personally thanked the competitors for attending. Also the judges were there and they were also in the spirit - open and helpful and happy to give you a critique on your dancing and encouragement on your development.

All in all a totally class act. Thank you.

[and as a disclaimer, I have absolutely nothing to do with the comp or the club - in fact to be honest I have never actually been there ]

I agree. Not only do they put on a very nice thank you get together afterward but these hard working people actually put on two competitions on the same day, a closed one for the club then an open one afterward for the rest of us. This means the volunteers are there from early in morning up until very late at night ( well after midnight) and I never hear any complaints.

I have mentioned this one before but I think it is worth mentioning again. The Canada Dancesport in Kingston, Ontario is another competition that goes above and beyond to try and make their competition a good experience for everyone.

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Everyone tries to rush up through the syllabus levles and think once they are at the top they have arrived. What they don't realize is that by doing this it is like skimming through a book, you may get the gist but you will never understand the story.

I was at that little party afterwards at the Blue Silver and agree it was a nice touch. We had to leave early because of a long drive so didnt realize we could have talked to the judges. It would have helped to hear their impressions of our dancing. I now like all the judges for their hard work during a long day and will continue to think like this until the end of the next competition.

I really like it when the competitions give you a breakfast voucher you can use anywhere/anytime in the hotel instead of having breakfast buffet which is open for a limited time (i.e. some state laws allow buffets to be open for 2 hours only, so at one comp breakfast buffet was open from 7am til 9am, and I successfully slept through it, because I wasn't supposed to be dancing til 2pm, and I thought I'd grab my breakfast around 9:30 - yeah, right.). So far I've been to 2 comps which gave breakfast vouchers - Twin Cities Open in 2009 and Colorado Star Ball in 2010. It would have been even better if they split that $20 voucher into 2 $10 vouchers, though, because that could pay for breakfast and lunch.

Also Colorado Starball had an oxygen bar as a help to competitors from lower elevations. It really does help people who live at measly 500 feet above sea level and suddenly have to dance at over 5000 feet.

Just had to add the Canadian Closed Championships to this topic. What a fantastic event and evening. The 'closed' concept serves in effect to create a national celebration of dancesport: even the judges (I tihnk all) were home grown and included international stars and one multiple world champion (Alain Doucet). Not only that but a broad spectrum of past champions, studio owners and dance sport teachers attended. A highlight for me was a presentation of previous CCC champions during the evening - going back to Victor and Helen Ross, CCC latin champions in 1968-1971.

The atmosphere was electric - having it in Ontario with its large dance base, may have contributed (I have not been to a previous CCC so can not compare). You could see that the Ontario competitors were obviously fired up by it too - nothing like performing to the home crowd. The Junior Championship Standard, Sr I Standard and the Adult latin finals stood out as spectacular events (and now I regret not going Friday night to see the Adult and Youth championship standard heats).

Perhaps the best of all, however, was how incredibly nice and helpful all the organizers were. So often one goes to a competition - which is can be a staggering investment in time money and effort - in essence contributing to the purpose of the event and the reason for the ticket sales (not much happening without the dancers, at all levels) and yet you feel like you should be beholden to the organization, as if you are paying for inclusion in an exclusive club. But this was definitely not the case last night. The feeling from top to bottom was one of appreciation and respect - I don't have a single negative to report. And here its the volunteers that are the 'front line' they obviously understood that competitors are going through a lot of stress before competing and sometimes need a bit of tollerance and also even a gentle hand. Oh, maybe I do have one complaint - my marks could have been better - but unfortunately there is only one person (hey, maybe two DP ) responsible for that

After the comp the competitors were invited, with the organizers and judges, to a very nice reception in the hotel restaurant. Classy affaire and a nice thank you for everyone's efforts.

Everyone tries to rush up through the syllabus levles and think once they are at the top they have arrived. What they don't realize is that by doing this it is like skimming through a book, you may get the gist but you will never understand the story.

A nice competition, friendly helpful and well organized. This is a competition that has recently been revived and is clearly trying to set a high standard for our area. But these are not the reasons for our star award. That was for the judging.

The one thing all (serious) competitive dancers (and I include amateurs, pros and pro-ams) want is fair and knowledgeable judging. I'm not sure how they did it but this competition had truly world class judges - by world class I mean judges who were stars in their own right. I'm not going to list them here but if you want to be dazzled look at the list on the FB page:http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.155721697814888.40621.131225040264554

Another important factor was that these top judges served throughout the competition. When I did pro-am it was heart breaking to prepare and travel to an international competition seeking a fresh judging perspective - only to find that for the lower-profile events the judging mavens were promptly replaced with the same local judges I would see at a competition in my home town. Kind of a slap in the face. I was at the competition all three days and kept an interested eye on this - maybe I missed some but each heat I watched included the same top-flight judges.

The only odd thing was that although the comp was reasonably well attended I don't understand why competitors were not flocking in to be judged by such a panel.

I hope they can keep up this lofty standard and everyone will support this event next year.